In recent years, as computers have prevailed and networked, e-mail messages used to send/receive character information via the Internet are prevalent. Files of various formats can be attached to e-mail messages in addition to e-mail text as character information.
There has also been proposed Internet FAX which sends/receives bitmap images by attaching as an attachment file of an e-mail message a TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) file in which information called a tag written with a recording format of data is prepared in the header of image data.
On the other hand, in FAX via a telephone line, sending information such as a date, time, source telephone number, destination name, and the like is often appended to the image header of image data to be sent.
FIG. 13 shows the conventional connection relationship among apparatuses associated with sending, receiving, and print processes of e-mail information. An example in which an e-mail message is sent from one of two computers installed with e-mail software for sending/receiving e-mail messages, i.e., from an e-mail client 11 to the other, i.e., an e-mail client 15 using an Internet 13 will be explained below using FIG. 13.
The e-mail client 11 inputs text comment of an e-mail message and destination information as the user name of the e-mail client 15 from an input unit such as a keyboard or the like, and sends the e-mail message to a Mail server·POP server 12 in accordance with SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) as one of protocols used to transfer Internet mail messages between computers.
If there are a plurality of recipients, the SMTP allows the user to describe a plurality of destinations as destination information of a given mail message and to send the mail message to these recipients. A mail server group such as the Mail server·POP server 12 sends such mail message to all the destinations as independent mail message.
Upon receiving the e-mail message, the Mail server·POP server 12 determines based on the destination information of the received e-mail message that the destination of the e-mail message is a Mail server·POP server 14, and sends this e-mail message to the Mail server·POP server 14 via the Internet 13. Upon receiving the e-mail message, the Mail server·POP server 14 saves the received e-mail message in an e-mailbox.
The e-mail client 15 checks at given time intervals by e-mail software if a new e-mail message has come in the e-mailbox of the Mail server·POP server 14, in accordance with POP3 (Post Office Protocol-Version3) as one of protocols used to download the e-mail message delivered to that client via the Internet. If a new e-mail message has come in the e-mailbox, the e-mail client 15 downloads that e-mail message, and opens it, thus reading the e-mail message sent from the e-mail client 11. When text or an attachment file of the received e-mail message is to be printed, a printer driver or application installed in the e-mail client 15 is launched to print the e-mail text and attachment file using a printer 16.
On the other hand, image data read by an Internet FAX 18 in FIG. 13 is also sent to an Internet FAX 17 by the same method as that described above. More specifically, image data read by the Internet FAX 18 is sent to the Mail server·POP server 12, is then sent to the Mail server·POP server 14 via the Internet 13, and is saved in the Mail server·POP server 14. This image data is sent to the Internet FAX 17, and is printed by the Internet FAX 17.
In this case, when there are a plurality of recipients, the internet FAX 18 generates image data without describing any recipient information in the image header of the image data, and describes a plurality of destinations in destination information of an e-mail message to send identical information.
When an e-mail message attached with image data is sent in the conventional system mentioned above, the communication protocol of the e-mail message can simultaneously send the e-mail message to a plurality of destinations without describing any image header information in image data. However, when sending information pertains to a plurality of destinations such as a date, time, source information, destination names, and the like are described in the image header of image data, destination information cannot be described due to its large size.
When an e-mail message attached with image data is sent in the conventional system mentioned above, image data having a predetermined sending resolution and a predetermined number of pixels can be sent to a single destination while giving a date, time, source telephone number, destination name, and the like in its image header. However, when image data having one of various resolutions and an indefinite number of pixels is sent while giving sending information such as a date, time, source telephone number, destination name, and the like, the character size becomes unnaturally too large or small, or characters may fall outside a paper sheet.